Browning gets last laugh: Four-time world champ thrills fans and judges

Copyright 1998 Southam Inc.

Kurt Browning had the last laugh.

Impersonating a clown, Browning had a capacity Memorial Auditorium crowd of 5,800 giggling all the way through his free-skating routine at the Sears Open figure skating meet Saturday night.

He also had the judges scribbling high marks. Four of them awarded him a perfect 6.0 for artistic impression, and Browning left laughing with a $ 40,000 US first-place cheque.

"I was really nervous," he said of performing his new routine for the first time in front of judges. "But the character is so much fun."

Wearing baggy pants with patches, and with a red ball attached to his nose, the four-time world champion from Caroline, Alta., who now lives in Toronto, showed why at age 32 he still is considered among the very best showmen in the sport.

He fell on purpose during the comical number. He skated backwards, jumped onto the judges' table, and sat there for a few seconds while the crowd roared. It was unconventional. It was Browning at his best.

"The real test will be when I'm not in Canada," he said of the Sandra Bezic-choreographed piece. "If people laugh in the United States and in Europe . . . No rules. It's great."

American Michael Weiss finished second and Brian Orser of Toronto was third.

The crowd had been in a much different mood at the end of the ice dance event. Russians Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov were declared the winners after Canadian champions Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz were penalized for a time violation and placed second. Boos filled the arena as the dance panel departed.